Consumer Alert: Companies are making promises they can't keep

This vacation rental nightmare is an agonizing lesson for all of us

When Mary Peterson tried to check in to her Vrbo rental last year in Kissimmee, Fla., she couldn't. There were people staying in the house.

Peterson, who was in town with her extended family for a 50th-anniversary vacation, scrambled to find alternate accommodations. Vrbo promised to refund her quickly for a last-minute hotel room — but then it didn't.

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